Age of Exploration
The Age of Exploration is period in history, part of the Olden Times of Earth. It began in 1492, following the Renaissance, and lasted until 1600, the beginning of the Enlightenment. Individuals Britain * Henry VII of England, founder of the Tudor dynasty. Introduced ruthlessly efficient mechanisms of taxation which restored the kingdom after a state of virtual bankruptcy due to the effects of the Wars of the Roses (1457 – 1509). * King Henry VIII of England, founder of Anglicanism (1491 – 1547). * Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII. She was the first Queen of England to be executed, and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. (c. 1501 - 1536) * William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". * Elizabeth I of England, central figure of the Elizabethan era (1533 – 1603). She was the granddaughter of the aforementioned Henry VII, daughter of Henry VIII and paternal half-sister of Mary I. * Lady Jane Grey, Queen regnant of England and Ireland. Notably deposed by popular revolt (1537 – 1554). * Mary Queen of Scots, First female head of the House of Stuart (1542 – 1587). * Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540–1596) – English explorer. The first English captain to sail around the world and survive. * Mary I of England. Attempted to counter the Protestant Reformation in her domains. Nicknamed Bloody Mary for her Religious persecution (1516 – 1558). * John Knox (c. 1510 – 1572) was a Scottish clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination. * John Donne, English metaphysical poet (1572 – 1631) * Ben Jonson, English dramatist (c.1572 – 1637) * Edmund Spenser, English poet (c. 1552 – 1599) * Sir Francis Bacon, (1561 – 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, and essayist. He is also known as a catalyst of the scientific revolution. * Christopher Marlowe, English poet and dramatist (1564 – 1593). * Thomas More, English politician and author (1478 – 1535). France * Michel Nostradamus, French astrologer and doctor, author of Les Propheties, a book of world prophecies (1503 – 1566). * Jacques Cartier (1491–1557) – French explorer. Discovered Canada. * King Henry IV of France and Navarre, ended the French Wars of Religion and reunited the kingdom under his command (1553 – 1610). * Michel de Montaigne, French essayist (1533 – 1592). * François Rabelais, French author (c. 1493 – 1553). * John Calvin, theologian, and reformer. Founder of Calvinism (1509 – 1564). Germany * Martin Luther, German religious reformer (1483 – 1546). * Albrecht Dürer, German artist, (1471 – 1528) * Hans Holbein the Younger, German artist, (1497 – 1543) * Johannes Kepler, (1571 - 1630), mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution. * Gerardus Mercator (5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594), famous cartographer Holland *Desiderius Erasmus (October 27, 1466/1469, Rotterdam– July 12, 1536 Basel) was a Dutch Renaissance humanist and Catholic Christian theologian. * Pieter Bruegel the Elder, (c. 1525 – September 9, 1569) * Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568 – January 13, 1625) Italy * Leonardo da Vinci, famous artist and inventor and scientist (1452 – 1519). * Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter and sculptor (1475 – 1564). * Raphael, Italian painter, (1483 – 1520) * Caravaggio, Italian artist (1571 – 1610). * Titian, Italian painter, (c. 1485 – 1576) * Galileo Galilei (156410 – 1642) was a Tuscan (Italian) physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution. * Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian author (1469 – 1527) * Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher and astronomer/astrologer (1548 – 1600). * Andrea Palladio (November 30, 1508 – August 19, 1580), one of the most influential architect of the Western architecture (Venice) * Giovanni da Verrazzano (c. 1485–1528) – Italian explorer for France. Explored the northeast coast of America, from about present day South Carolina to Newfoundland. Portugal * Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator. The first one to sail around the Cape of Good Hope (c. 1469 – 1524). * Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator who sailed around the world (1480 – 1521). Spain * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the first to reign as King of Spain. Involved in almost constant conflict with France and the Ottoman Empire while promoting the Spanish colonization of the Americas (1500 – 1558). * Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (1491 – 1556). * King Philip II of Spain, self-proclaimed leader of Counter-Reformation (1527 – 1598). * Francisco Pizarro (c. 1475–1541) – Spanish explorer. Conquered the Inca Empire. * Hernando de Soto (c. 1496–1542) – Spanish explorer. Explored Florida, mainly northwest Florida, and discovered the Mississippi River. * Vasco Núñez de Balboa (c. 1475–1519) – Spanish explorer. The first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama and view the Pacific ocean from American shores. * Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (c. 1510–1554) – Spanish explorer. Searched for the Seven Cities of Gold and discovered the Grand Canyon in the process * Hernán Cortés, Spanish Conquistador (1485 – 1547). * Juan Ponce de León (c. 1460–1521) – Spanish explorer. He explored Florida while attempting to locate a Fountain of Youth. * El Greco (1541 – April 7, 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance * Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author (1547 – 1616). Other * Paracelsus (11 November or 17 December 1493 in Einsiedeln, Switzerland – 24 September 1541 in Salzburg, Austria), Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist. * Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Conqueror and legal reformer (1494 – 1566). * Cuauhtémoc, the last Tlatoani of the Aztec, led the native resistance against the Conquistadores (1502 – 1525). * Ivan IV of Russia, first Russian tsar (1533–1584). * Akbar the Great, third Mughal emperor, who led the Mughal Empire to its zenith (1542 – 1605) * Miyamoto Musashi, famous warrior in Japan, author of The Book of Five Rings, a treaty on strategy and martial combat. (1584 – 1645) * Tycho Brahe, (1546 – 1601), Danish astronomer. * Nicolaus Copernicus, (1473 – 1543) astronomer, developed the heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory using scientific methods. Timeline 1492 January: The Emirate of Granada relinquishes sovereignty to Aragon & Castille. Rodrigo Borgia becomes Pope Alexander VI. October 12 Christopher Columbus sails the ocean blue in the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. Spanish Inquisition expels the Jews from Spain. 1494 June 7: Spain and Portugal divide the New World between themselves. 1495 Albrecht Durer opens his engraving workshop--Nuremberg The last unicorn is hunted down, an incident immortalized on tapestry--Brussels 1496 Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) tests a flying machine. 1497 June 24: John Cabot, sailing from Bristol, England, reaches Newfoundland. July 8: Vasco de Gama sails from Lisbon on a voyage that will round the Cape of Good Hope, reach India and return to Portugal on August 29, 1499. 1499 Revelation of the Sikh religion--Nankana Sahib, Pakistan June: Amerigo Vespucci reaches the coast of Brazil, realizes that a New World has been discovered. 1500 Extinction of the moa, the giant flightless bird of New Zealand August 18: Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) murders the husband of his sister, Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519). 1502 The trans-Atlantic slave trade begins. 1503 Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) paints The Garden of Earthly Delights--Brabant, Netherlands 1504 Michelangelo (1475-1564) unveils David. 1507 Leonardo completes the Mona Lisa. Smallpox brought to the New World--Hispaniola 1508 Raphael (1483-1520) paints the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican--ruining everything, according to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Othello, General of Venice, kills his beloved wife Desdemona at the instigation of Iago, his ensign. 1509 Henry VIII (1491-1547) becomes king of England. Henry marries Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). 1510 Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) writes his Three Books of Occult Philosophy--Wurzburg, Germany. 1512 Michelangelo completes the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Nicolas Copernicus proposes that the Earth revolves around the Sun rather than vice versa. September 29: Vasco de Balboa sees the Pacific--Darien, Panama 1513 Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) writes The Prince for the head of the Medici family--Florence Titian (1488-1576) opens his workshop on the Grand Canal in Venice. April 2: Ponce de Leon (b. 1460) reaches Florida on his search for the Fountain of Youth. 1516 Sir Thomas More discovers Utopia off the coast of Brazil. Queen Catherine gives birth to Mary, her only child to survive infancy. The Reformation 1517 October 31: Martin Luther (1483-1546) nails his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Saxony. 1519 September 19: Ferdinand Magellan begins the circumnavigation of the globe--Sevilla, Spain. 1519 February: The Conquest of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortez begins. June 28: Charles V (1500-58), already King of Spain and Lord of the Netherlands, becomes Holy Roman Emperor. 1520 The Aztec Emperor Montezuma is imprisoned by Hernan Cortez. Chocolate introduced to Europe. September 30: Suleiman the Magnificent becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. October: Magellan reaches the Straits that bear his name. 1521 April 27: Magellan killed off the coast of the Philippines. July: Ponce de Leon returns to Florida, only to be fatally wounded by a poisoned arrow. August 13: Cuauhtemoc (1495-1525), the last Emperor of the Aztecs, is captured by Cortes. 1522 September 6: The survivors of Magellan’s expedition return to Spain in 1522, having successfully circled the Earth. 1525 The pirate Barbarossa becomes Pasha of Algiers. 1529 October 15: The Ottomans are defeated by the Austrian Empire at the Siege of Vienna. 1531 February 11: Henry VIII breaks with the Catholic Church in order to annul his marriage to Catherine and wed Anne Boleyn. The Spanish first hear word of El Dorado from a shipwrecked sailor. 1532 Incan Empire overthrown by Pizarro. 1533 September 11: Anne Boleyn gives birth to Elizabeth, her only surviving child. 1534 August 15: Ignatius Loyola forms the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits. 1535 July 6: Execution of Sir Thomas More (b. 1478) for refusing to condone Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn. 1536 February 2: Founding of Buenos Aires. May 19: Henry VIII has his second wife Anne Boleyn beheaded for treason. He marries his third wife, Jane Seymour, eleven days later. John Calvin expounds the doctrine of Calvinism--Geneva, Switzerland. Christopher Walker (b. 1516) takes on the identity of The Phantom to avenge his father's death by pirates--the first of a long line of Phantoms. Bangalla. 1537 William Tyndale translates the Bible into English. 1539 Knights of Malta send a bejeweled falcon as tribute to King Charles of Spain 1540 Vasquez de Coronado sets off in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola. Dr. Johann Faust (b. 1480), his 24-year pact come due, has his soul taken by Mephistopheles--Wurttemberg 1541 Spanish explorers name the Amazon River after a tribe of female warriors they encounter on it. May 8: Conquistador Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River, having marched across southeastern North America from Florida. August 23: Jacques Cartier establishes the colony of Quebec. Pizarro sets off in search of El Dorado. 1542 Ludwig Prinn writes De Vermis Mysteriis--"Mysteries of the Worm." Sir Francis Drake 1542-1596 Hattori Hanzo 1543 Copernicus asserts that the Earth travels around the Sun. 1544 The Philippines named for King Philip of Spain. 1546 Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen (1530-1603), takes to the sea. 1547 Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584) becomes the first Tsar of Russia. January 27: Prince Edward of England changes places with pauper Tom Canty; highjinks ensue--London 1549 Witch-hunter Solomon Kane born in Devonshire, England. 1550 Hiawatha helps found the Iroquois Confederacy. Minnehaha Nostradamus (1503-1566) begins to publish his prophecies. 1553 July 19: Rein of Bloody Mary (b. 1516) as Queen of England begins, and persecution of Protestants ensues. 1554 Popul Vuh written--Santa Cruz del Quiché, Guatemala. 1556 January 16: Philip II becomes King of Spain; a Philip will be on the throne until 1665. February: Akbar the Great (1543-1605) becomes Mogul of India--Delhi. 1557 December: Scottish dissidents sign the First Covenant, the foundation of the Presbyterian Church. 1558 Pieter Breugel (1525-69) paints Landscape With the Fall of Icarus--Antwerp 1559 January 15: Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603) is crowned Queen of England--on a date chosen by John Dee (1527-1609), the wizard who serves as her secret agent and advisor. 1563 Seventeen thousand die in the Plague of London. 1565 August 28: Saint Augustine, Florida, is founded by the Spanish Empire. 1567 Mary Queen of Scots imprisoned in the Tower of London. 1572 August 23: Catherine de' Medici orders thousands of French Hugenauts murdered in the St. Bartholemew's Day Massacre--Paris September 23: Tupac Amaru (b. 1545), the last Inca, executed by Spanish. November 11: Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) observes a supernova in Cassiopeia that proves the Heavens are not unchanging--Herrevad Abbey, Sweden. 1577 Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco (1541-1614), moves to Toledo, Spain, where he paints his greatest works. 1578 Sir Francis Drake in the Golden Hind captures the Spanish treasure ship Cacafuego off the coast of Ecuador. 1581 John Dee and Edward Kelly attempt to contact angels. 1582 February 24: Pope Gregory XIII establishes his calendar. 1584-1656 Myles Standish 1584 August 18: An expedition sent by Sir Walter Raleigh establishes a colony of the island of Roanoke, in what will later become North Carolina. Sir Simon de Canterville, who murdered his wife in 1575, becomes a ghost upon his own death--Canterville Chase, near Ascot The beautiful orphan Emily St. Aubert is held prisoner in the Castle of Udolpho--Apennines, Italy 1585 Young Will Shakespeare moves from Stratford to London, seeking a career on the stage. 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618) founds a colony at Roanoke; three years later, it is the Lost Colony. 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada by Sir Francis Drake (and John Dee's hurricane). Rabbi Judah Loew (1525-1609) moves to Prague, where he creates a Golem to protect the Ghetto from pogroms. 1589 The first flush toilet invented--Bath, England 1592 William Shakespeare (1564-1616) writes Richard III, his first major work. Caravaggio (1571-1610) comes to Rome, where he begins his career as a professional painter. 1593 Christopher Marlowe (b. 1564), playwright and spy, killed in a “tavern brawl.” 1594 February 27: Henry of Navarre, having converted to Catholicism under the principle that Paris is well worth a mass, becomes Henry IV of France, launching the Bourbon dynasty. 1595 ' Sir Walter Raleigh searches for El Dorado along the Orinoco. ' '1597 ''' '''Ben Johnson (1572-1637) begins his career as a playwright. ' Category:Period